SASKATOON - - For the first time since Griffiths Stadium hosted the Vanier Cup in 2006, the Huskies will be playing and practicing on new artificial turf.

“They deserve this, and deserve this field, and it's gonna be it's gonna be really good for us,” said Huskies head coach Scott Flory, who’s team had been practicing on a field on the north side of campus while the new turf was being installed.

“To have it done here and to have it completed, we’ve got about a week and a half left out here that we're going to be training and practicing.”

Flory says the old turf was passed it’s “life expectancy”, and his players feel it will improve the quality of their play while reducing worries about injuries.

“With the old stuff, there was nothing left,” said running back Colton Klassen. “It was like running on concrete or an old putting green, is what I felt like. Being on this new turf is awesome, and you know it's a little bit spongy, but you know, you just feel explosive, and I think that athletes are just like confident in it that like, ligaments and joints are going to stay healthy.”

The renovation included ripping up the track that surrounded the field and replacing it with asphalt at a cost of $3.14 million dollars paid for by the provincial government.

“Just the look of it, like the the old stuff was a little patchy,” said quarterback Mason Nyhus. “They did some patchwork just to keep it up to safety standards for a while there, but just the look of it alone, it’s night and day, so I'm just super excited.”